STS-96 Astronauts Tammy Jernigan
and Dan Barry completed the second longest space walk in shuttle history
at 5:51 a.m. Central time Sunday, accomplishing all of the objectives
mapped out for their excursion as well as a couple of unscheduled activities.

Today's space walk - the 45th
in space shuttle history and the fourth of the International Space Station
era - began at 9:56 p.m. Central time Saturday night, and concluded
at 5:51 a.m. Sunday, lasting 7 hours, 55 minutes. The longest spacewalk
was conducted by STS-49 Astronauts Rick Heib, Pierre Thuot and Tom Akers,
which lasted 8 hours, 29 minutes on May 13 and 14, 1992.

During today's spacewalk, Jernigan
and Barry transferred and installed two cranes from the shuttle's payload
bay to locations on the outside of the station. They also installed
two new portable foot restraints that will fit both American and Russian
space boots, and attached three bags filled with tools and handrails
that will be used during future assembly operations. Once those primary
tasks were accomplished, Jernigan and Barry installed an insulating
cover on a trunnion pin on the Unity module, documented painted surfaces
on both the Unity and Zarya modules, and inspected one of two early
communications system antennas on the Unity.

Throughout the space walk,
Jernigan and Barry were assisted by their crew mates as Mission Specialist
Ellen Ochoa operated the Shuttle's robot arm to maneuver Jernigan around
Discovery's cargo bay, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette
acted as "choreographer" of the spacewalk from Discovery's
flight deck.

The excursion raised the total
number of International Space Station era space walks to four, with
the total time spent on construction activities now standing at 29 hours,
17 minutes. STS-88 Astronauts Jerry Ross and Jim Newman spent 21 hours,
22 minutes outside Endeavour during their three space walks.

The crew is scheduled to begin
its sleep shift at 8:50 a.m. today and will receive a wake-up call from
Mission Control at 4:50 p.m. The crew is scheduled to open a series
of hatches connecting Discovery with the International Space Station
and enter the new facility about 7:35 p.m. Central time to begin the
transfer of equipment and logistical supplies from the Shuttle to the
station. They'll also conduct repairs on battery charging systems in
Zarya and a balky communications system in Unity.

The next STS-96 mission status
report will be issued at approximately 6 p.m. Central time or as events
warrant.